Progress report on my leg....

Less than 2 weeks now to black belt grading! My injured leg had its first real test last night and held up pretty well. We went through all our combination techniques including the ones with the dreaded jump kicks that usually set my leg off again. These felt okay on the whole and I just kept stretching my quads out between each set.

We then went through our kata and bunkai. After about 20 minutes of practising these on our own, those of us that are grading had to demonstrate all our kata and bunkai to the class as if it were a the real thing. I felt relieved when Sensei said that it had all gone well and would have been worthy of a pass in the grading (relief!).

My leg was feeling fine at this point and I was still stopping to stretch it regularly. At the end of the class we decided to have some races which involved crawling or running over large crash mats - good fun but ouch! Not so good for my leg.....it was aching like mad by the time I got home and stretching had become painful again (arrrgghh!!!). What was I thinking joining in with that race?

So it was back on with the heat pad at home and a massage on my leg by my husband - he has a vested interest in getting me fit for the grading since I am his grading partner! The tiger balm that I had ordered a week ago from a well known Internet shop (A--z-n) had still not arrived, not even been dispatched yet - just when I needed it. Today I decided to buy it the old fashioned way by going to a shop - it worked, they had it and now my leg stinks of Tiger balm! Stretching is still a little tender today but not as bad as last night.

I have another class tonight but I think I'll pass on the games this time if we have any! 

Sports Massage - ouch!

I have a recurring quads injury in my right thigh. This 'pulled muscle' injury goes back about 8 weeks now and keeps getting better and then recurring again. It recurred again last week and has bothered me a lot during the last 3 karate classes.

The activity that seems to set it off is jump kicking. Front kicks and round kicks don't seem to bother it though back hook kicks do bother it a bit. Once it is set off I literally cannot do a jump kick with my right leg, it's just too painful!

I am worried how this is going to affect me in my grading. I desperately don't want to pull out at this late stage if I can help it. Unfortunately the kicking combinations are the second section on the grading so I am worried that if it pulls again during that section it will affect my performance of all subsequent sections.

To try and avert disaster and get this pull sorted out once and for all I decided to have a sports massage today. I've never had one of these before (life's full of firsts, even at my age) but I've heard that they can produce good results.

Anyway, I have just returned from this sports massage and I can confirm that it is not for the faint hearted!
After prodding away at my thigh to see where the tightness was he recommended a deep tissue massage. Aarrghh! He was pushing his fingers so deeply into my quads muscle that I felt like he was going to go right through my leg. It was definitely a painful experience but hopefully one worth going through.

I was starting to regret telling him that I also had a bit of lower back pain and that an old injury to my left shoulder was bothering me a bit. However, I did let him massage my back and shoulder (in for a penny, in for a pound!) and this was not nearly as painful as the thigh.

The prognosis? Well, he said it may feel worse tomorrow but after that should get better. I have got to do regular stretching exercises on my thigh and must warm up thoroughly before attempting any kicks. He has advised me not to do any kicking in karate class tomorrow but after that it should be okay to try. He also recommended using a heat pad to warm up the muscle before exercise and to basically just keep moving.

He was hopeful that it would feel a lot better by next week but if it didn't he suggested going back for another massage (I'll have to summon up courage for that!).

Here's hoping it's done the trick! I'll keep you posted.